At least I got out of Forks with my spoon in hand!

So let me tell you friend. It was a long, hot, and crazy summer in Forks Washington. I don't think I have ever been as close to a nervous breakdown in my life. It started essentially when I quit my job at Olsson Mfg, makers of "First class Davit's" (more on davit's later, you can go to http://www.boatdavit.com/ to see my former work). I knew that I was going to be able to survive in Forks. In fact prior to summer I thought I would thrive. I had every reason to believe that the Twilight tourism boom was real. I also had very good reason to believe that people everywhere, from all walks of life thought I was Robert Pattinson (star of The Haunted Airmen, Little Ashes, and The Twilight saga), or at least some kind of relative of his.

So I did what it took to get myself out there, with computers, cameras, and a trusty companion, my good friend Lando. We were both at the end of our dead-end jobs, having worked in the trades since graduating from Central Washington University, with art degrees. So now, since we had no kids, a good shot at some money, and we were sick of our jobs we left. This of course is much simplified. It leaves out an album I am working on, some random twidentification, not to mention the fact that I had to make up the word twidentified in the first place (urban dictionary, look it up)! That is fine, I am still going to write a book, so I must keep some secrets.

Anyhow, when we got to Forks we learned a lot. And we learned it fast. First thing was that it is great to look like a guy who is rumored to have body odor and not shower. When you are running a two man operation, in which one man is posing with random and assorted strangers at random and assorted times, sometimes the strangers are going to catch the one man at times when he is not ready to be caught! So we tried to keep deodorant around in a lot of different places. There were some fairly tense moments. with customers in the shop wanting pictures, me looking for deodorant without them knowing. Lando sitting at his computer, angry that I couldn't find it. Also he lost his sense of smell from a skateboarding accident, so was of little help anyway!

Second, when (apparently) you look like a teen idol, your biggest fans will run away! This was not something I was at all prepared for. In fact it was shocking. But it happened time and again. I had a few who ran come back later, and a lot of them were still freaked out! So we lost money that way.

Third, it takes good friends to work, live, and travel together and never really get into a fight. I think that in itself is a victory. We had some tense moments, we had to have some tough conversations, but at the end of the day we were still on the same team. So I feel like though we are not wealthy, or even lower middle class, we still did some good this summer. I know for a fact that we made a lot of people happy, had a lot of fun, and of course we aren't perfect, but I think we had a positive impact throughout our summer!

Anyway, the stress of the whole summer was compounded by the lack of money we made, but at least we aren't in debt, we made it through alive. And thanks to the tourism, and the risk we took, we were able to meet some truly wonderful people. People we never would have met. In fact I would not be here today writing this if not for all my wonderful new friends. So I am writing this to say thanks for the support, and see you down the road! http://www.mynameisnotedward.com/